Reporting back on the David Bridie gig. Venue; Brunswick Ballroom, on Sydney Road (is it still called that?). This was my first time to see the place, and l was impressed by the intimacy it allowed. The last time l saw a gig in Brunswick was George Thorogood at Bombay Rock, which l guess has long since disappeared.
The show included dinner with premium seats. Seating capacity was about 100, and the the acoustics were superb throughout. It is more than 25 years since l last saw DB in concert, probably closer to 35 years. His music doesn’t aim for the crutch like most of rock and roll, instead it is emotive and expansive and aims for somewhere between the heart and the head, as it transports to another plane. The music was broken into two sets, the first set was eclectic, running the full gamut of DB’s musical styles, from the quietly contemplative to full-blown flights of fancy. The second set started slowly and then built tempo with more liberal use of three guitarists, but such was the quality of the acoustics that each note of the three guitars could be clearly heard. Drums and bass were used sparingly, and at times, not at all, but the mix was superb. Due to my prolonged absence overseas, l was unfamiliar with much of his material, and a request for Willow Tree as part of the encore did not meet with success.
The show finished at 9 PM, a very respectable time, as it allowed me sufficient time to drive back to Traralgon, before it got too late. I was invited to attend by an ex-student, who is now 50. He comes to town from time to time for work, and we manage to catch up when we can. He credits me with introducing him to the music scene, such as it was back then, and we went to a few memorable gigs over the years, the best probably being Billy Bragg at The Palais, in the late 1980’s. At that gig there was a special promotion, by sending in the ticket stub, we would each get a 6 track limited edition CD, of 6 live tracks from Canada. It took 3 months for the goodies to arrive, and we had both almost given up on them ever coming, when they finally arrived. We also took in a few record affairs along the way. His collection now is mammoth, an investment that is only going to appreciate, while my own modest collection has been in storage. We have struck a deal, l am giving my collection over to him as l don’t have the means to play them, nor the space to keep them. He will buy the bits and pieces he wants for his collection, and he will sell the rest on my behalf, splitting those proceeds 50/50. I know my records will then be well looked after and someone will continue to appreciate a lot of fine music.
As we walked out l marveled at how much the live music scene in Melbourne has changed, possibly due to the influence of the Covid lockdowns. There appears to have been a huge growth in small venues like this one, dotted all over the city, supporting the growth of live music once more. I was assured that musos from other states are moving here, because of this growth, and that Sydney has nothing like this by way of comparison. Although it is a bit of a hike from here to there, l look forward to catching a couple more gigs in the future as the opportunity arises.
